Glass MagicbyLydia Schröder

Dear Lydia, first we want to congratulate you. Your works are striking, aesthetically beautiful and impressive technique at the same time. Tell us something more about your passion of working with glass. How did it all start? The beginning is a bit difficult for me to describe. I was working in different mediums during my training at the academy. Movement is what captivated me most. I made all kinds of objects with rubber bands and metal so you could see through them, or clay objects with openings and strained wires. As Barbara Hepworth did in some of her works. Barbara Hepworth and others such as Brancusi were my inspirations. After a while, movement in association with light became my biggest interest and this is what I aimed to capture in my works. This new development in my works came after my academic years. The pursuit of combining glass with my clay works was a logical step to follow. Glass gave my works a new way of breathing. All of a sudden there was light and new movement in everything I made. At the art academy I never got the chance to play around with the glass. So working with glass became my very own style as I had no formal training with it. It was love from the first moment. I have an undying love for glass.

Where do you look for inspiration to start a new work? What are the shapes you like to create most?My earlier art works were more abstract than what I make now. At that time I was not focusing on any visual goals to achieve. The aim was presenting shapes that were free and liberating. These days I make artworks that are related to living objects. Now my pieces are more concrete as they resemble flowers and shells. I currently take nature as a starting point. Sometimes I am inspired by a shell on the beach or reading an article about a flower with a photo of it. As I am creating a new work I find it very important to be alert of every process in the development of my work. I see the transformation as it takes place in my clay objects as the shapes are changing. I keep tabs and see what I can use in my future works. Sometimes while I am making one sculpture I am already inspired to make another one. It just happens like this... How difficult is it for a woman to work with big machineries and with glass? Or is it more about your passion and the satisfaction at the end of a project that overcome all challenges? I see the glass and the big machineries as a tool and not something as a challenge. By working with these tools you will find the freedom and the restrictions of it.

Would you like to pass down your craftsmanship to someone else? Do you have students? What is your advice to young fellows who have passions and hobbies, but many times are discouraged to continue their passions for the arts? I think my way of working is not so much about craftsmanship. This is my way of communicating. Therefore I do not see it as something I can teach as craftsmanship. It is not about a secret recipe I don’t want to give away but the only way to truly make something your own (working with glass or another medium) is to try it yourself and go for it all the way. For example, my 19 year old daughter is an art student now. I always try to encourage her to search and to try out as much as possible all kinds of opportunities ahead of her.

My advice to young people is to always keep on making and creating, even if it is a struggle to survive at first. I think when your passion is big enough you will find your own balance to be able to continue your career in the arts. What are you currently working on? Any upcoming exhibitions? Where can people find your works to view and purchase? Currently I am working on big sculptures related to flowers. My next new exhibition will be in Belgium in 2016. Now I have works exhibited in a number of galleries in Holland for the remainder of 2015. In 2016 my works will be featured in a big sculpture garden. These big sculpture gardens are a very nice platform to display my works surrounded by nature.